Another exciting week! - 21st email from Hong Kong

Dear Family,

What do a one-armed man, a blue vase and a lion dance have in common?

They all featured prominently in Mission Conference yesterday!

As always, I learned a lot. During the morning session of conference, we watched a film about a man who had lost an arm in a war, but had come through the experience with the determination that was summed up when he said "I can do anything - except take no for an answer!"

He decides that he is going to get a job in a specific company, and as such prints up his own business cards with his name - and the company's name on - to give to his future employer as he shows up asking for a job. He is rejected purely on physical appearance, and so goes over this man's head, to his boss, and asks him for a job. This boss, the owner of the company, is more of a kind-hearted granddad kind of man, and so hires him on the spot. He works very, very hard to be the best salesman he can be for the company, until he is being considered for a large promotion - considered by the owner of the company, while the first man who rejected him refuses to acknowledge his good work.

So the owner of the company and the other man set up a scenario wherein the one-armed man has to find a way to get a blue vase that is on sale in a shop to the train station before a train leaves - on a Sunday, when the shop is closed and there's no way to get in the shop. They bet $500 on it, and so the one man tries everything he can to stop the one-armed man from succeeding - including changing the sign on the shop window. The shop is called "Kohn's Art Store", but with a different sign, it reads "Cohen's Art Store". The one-armed man phones up every man named Cohen in the phone book trying to find the one who opens the shop, then checks the shop again, and finds his real name is Kohn. So He does it all over again. Eventually, he misses the train without getting the vase, but he doesn't give up. He gets the owner of the shop to sell him the vase, for the outrageous price of $1000, and leaves his most treasured possession, his pocket-watch, as part of the payment. He then hires a personal aeroplane to fly him to the next stop the train will make and personally delivers the vase to the man.

The owner of the company is thrilled that he has succeeded, and as such gives him his new business cards, printed to read "Vice-President". The promotion is far more than expected.

This film taught me a great lesson. Everybody wants to be the kind of person about which this kind of story can be told, but very few of us ever succeed. So I resolved to follow this man's example, and know that I can do anything - except take no for an answer.

On the way home from Mission Conference, I talked with a man on the bus. As we reached our stop, I offered him a copy of The Family: A Proclamation to the World. He politely declined. I then decided; the man in the film wouldn't take no for an answer; neither will I. So I told the man that I was going to give it to him; it wasn't an offer; I knew the message was important, so he was going to read it with his family. As a show of faith I wrote down my name and phone number on the back and gave it to him - the Spirit was with me, and he didn't take offence. I had succeeded in helping his family come one step closer to Christ.

Later in the Mission Conference, during lunch, we were treated to an interesting show; a Lion Dance. The Assistants to the President, dressed in a traditional Chinese Lion costume (much like a pantomime horse; one at the front, one in the back) and performed a traditional Chinese Lion Dance. It's not all that easy to describe; there's lots of drums being beaten and lots of cymbals tinkling in time with the movements of the animal, who wakes up, stretches, scratches himself a little, dances, runs around, throws up and the jumps in the air. It was really unique; something I'm not sure very many Mission Conferences around the world feature.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to go on 24 hour exchanges with Elder Ng, for a second time. The first was right back in my first moves. This time, he told me, was so that the other Zone Leader, Elder Lewis, could go on exchanges with Elder Walgren and give him a little training on leadership.

Elder Ng told me that he was thrilled by all my improvement over the past months, and how much my Chinese has improved. It was a really good learning opportunity, and I learned a lot about how I can improve and grow more. Elder Ng will finish his mission in March, along with a great many other Elders and Sisters (18 to be exact), and I am so thankful for his service as my Zone Leader throughout this time; I have learned so much about how to teach and share with people from him, and his strict obedience to the Mission Rules have also shown me a lot about this very important topic.

Now, as 18 missionaries are "dying", to use mission slang, at the end of this moves, a total of 16 are also entering the mission - several sisters who will work International work, a senior couple and a lot of other Elders who will be in Cantonese work. 18 Elders and Sisters came in last moves too, and similarly large numbers have been coming in every six weeks dating back to my own group. This means a very young mission - and as I look at what happened to my own older group last moves (many of them are "step-dads"; they have companions in their second moves), I see yet more need to improve my Cantonese very quickly. My Pass-Off schedule is looking a little hard, as I only have a few weeks to go, but I am sure I can achieve it; I had a pass-off for Lesson 4 with Elder Ng and he told me that my Cantonese was up to scratch, I just needed to improve my teaching. I think my hardest challenge in teaching in Chinese is that I'm not very confident of my abilities in the language; when I teach in English, I am a far more confident and effective teacher. So I've determined to do something that will help my tongue become more familiar with Cantonese, will help me recall difficult words more quickly, and will help me to improve my sounds and tones (crucial for this language) and give me a boost of confidence in speaking. Since the closing prayer of Mission Conference, I have been on an English fast.

One week. No English - this would be ideal. It is also impractical to cut out all English; for example, I found a man on the bus this morning who speaks Mandarin, and as such I had to communicate with him in English. But in every situation possible I am now trying my utmost to not speak English. If I can't communicate an idea or a work in Chinese, I'll say it in English. This is very useful, as it helps Elder Walgren to see which words I don't know as I speak, and he can teach me them there on the spot. Through this, I shall be able to vastly improve me teaching.

My next Pass-Off is scheduled for tomorrow, and I fully intend to pass - after all, I can do anything except take no for an answer. The decision to do something is just as important as the action of doing it. I WILL pass-off! I know I will, and therefore I will. That will put me right on schedule for completing my final pass-off and my Zone Leader pass-off before the end of the moves.

My time is running out - today I've talked a lot about a wide variety of random topics and I'm not sure if it's even worth reading, but I must ask you that even if you're not saving all the emails I write you, please definitely save this one. Mission Conference was a major turning point for me, and I am now more confident than ever of my ability to do the Lord's work, through His guidance and power.

Lots of love,

Elder Matthew Loffhagen